Manet’s graphics in the National Gallery Prague

Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet (1832-1883) believed in his artistic mission and he dedicated his whole life to art. Despite his death at the early age of fifty-one, he produced over 420 paintings during his lifetime. One of his best-known works is ‘Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ (‘The Luncheon on the Grass’), a painting that has inspired many other modern works of art.

King of the Impressionists

Manet’s personality and elegant style, as well as his opinions, made him truly Parisian. Although he never wanted to belong to any one art group, as he always wanted his work and conception of art to be distinct, he was considered as the king of the Impressionists, mainly for his unusual themes, colour combinations and brush work.

He only had a marginal interest in graphics. The exhibition in the National Gallery Prague, which contains about a dozen works, mainly etchings, presents this lesser-known chapter of Manet’s creative work.

Manet is not Monet

The painter Édouard Manet is often confused with Claude Monet and vice versa. It is not surprising, as they are easy to mix up. They had similar names, were both French, lived in the same period and painted in the Impressionist style, and they both painted famous paintings called ‘Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe’. Claude Monet’s ‘Luncheon on the Grass’ was intended both as a tribute and a challenge to Manet’s earlier controversial painting, but it remained unfinished.

For further information, please visit: https://www.ngprague.cz/en.